Traffic Stop Not Justified by Brief Flashing of High Beams at Oncoming Squad Car

Sarber v. Commissioner of Public Safety, Minn.Ct.App., 8/27/2012.  As a Mille Lacs County deputy sheriff approached within a thousand feet of Mr. Sarber’s car Mr. Sarber flashed his high beams at the deputy, then did it again a second or so later.  The deputy pulled over Mr. Sarber, discovered that he was intoxicated.  Admirably, if not amazingly, the deputy relied entirely on this flashing as the basis for the stop.

There’s a statute for this:

“[W]hen the driver of a vehicle approaches a vehicle within 1,000 feet, such driver shall use a distribution of light, or composite beam, so aimed that the glaring rays are not projected into the eyes of the oncoming driver.

Minn.Stat. 169.61.  The court appeals concludes that this statute does not make it illegal to flash your high beams at another driver, at least when it’s done quickly.  The flashee must have been at least temporarily blinded or impaired by the flasher.